The maintaining causes of anxiety disorders are what tend to keep them going. They involve ways of thinking, feeling, and coping that serve to perpetuate anxiety, panic, or phobias. Much of this workbook is devoted to helping you deal with these maintaining causes. Of the four types of causes we are considering, only the maintaining […]
Long-term causes such as heredity, childhood environment, and cumulative stress create a predisposition to anxiety disorders. Yet it takes more specific conditions, operating over a short period of time, to actually trigger panic attacks or cause a phobia to develop. In this section we will briefly consider Specific stressors that often precede a first panic
Short-Term, Triggering Causes of anxiety disorder Read More »
Biological causes refer to physiological imbalances in the body or brain that are associated with anxiety disorders. It is important to recognize that such imbalances are not necessarily the ultimate causes of anxiety disorders and may themselves be caused by A specific hereditary vulnerability Cumulative stress over time A hereditary vulnerability that is brought out
Long-Term, Predisposing Causes Heredity Are anxiety disorders inherited? The limited evidence that exists to date would argue that they are—at least in part. For example, it is estimated that 15 to 25 percent of children growing up with at least one agoraphobic parent become agoraphobic themselves, while the rate of agoraphobia in the general population
If you are dealing with one of the anxiety disorders, you are likely to be concerned with the causes of your problem. You probably ask yourself, “Why do I have panic attacks? Is it something hereditary, or is it the way I was brought up? What causes phobias to develop? Why am I afraid of
The essential feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the development of disabling psychological symptoms following a traumatic event. It was first identified during World War I, when soldiers were observed to suffer chronic anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks for weeks, months, or even years following combat. This condition came to be known as shell shock.
Some people naturally tend to be more neat, tidy, and orderly than others. These traits can be useful in many situations, both at work and at home. In obsessive-compulsive disorder, however, they are carried to an extreme and disruptive degree. Obsessive-compulsive people can spend many hours cleaning, tidying, checking, or ordering, to the point that
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by chronic anxiety that persists for at least six months but is unaccompanied by panic attacks, phobias, or obsessions. You simply experience persistent anxiety and worry without the complicating features of other anxiety disorders. To be given a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, your anxiety and worry must focus on
A specific phobia typically involves a strong fear and avoidance of one particular type of object or situation. There are no spontaneous panic attacks, and there is no fear of panic attacks, as in agoraphobia. There is also no fear of humiliation or embarrassment in social situations, as in social phobia. Direct exposure to the
Social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) is one of the more common anxiety disorders. It involves fear of embarrassment or humiliation in situations where you are exposed to the scrutiny of others or you must perform. This fear is much stronger than the normal anxiety most nonphobic people experience in social or performance
